A Secret Friend
by AngeliqueBelrose
Summary: When a new vigilante appears in the streets of New York, every handles the news differently. Some think it's a great thing to have someone fighting against crime, while others want them stopped at all costs. But when the vigilante learns of others who fight as she does, brothers begin to keep secrets from each other in the hope of having just one friend on whom they can rely.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! Brand spanking new account here, looking to keep her online anonymity and just post some old fanfictions that were started a long time ago. Essentially, I have an account on here already that I use for other stories, but I recently discovered a lot of things that I had written back in high school (we're talking like five or six years ago minimum here) and a few of them were actually kinda decent. Or at least they were fun. Anyway, I want to re-work a bunch of them so that they don't sound quite as childish and post them here to see what others think of them. This is the very first one, which I hope will become a series now that the gears of my brain are working on it. With any luck, _A Secret Friend_ will be the first of six completed stories just with these characters and under this heading. So when you're reading, please feel free to leave me a review and let me know if you like it! I won't tolerate flamers, but constructive things are always appreciated as long as you're polite.**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

"Hurry up, Jackson!"

"I'm sorry boss, but this lock is giving me trouble."

An exasperated growl sounded from the throat of the husky blonde male as he glared down at the man attempting to pick the lock of the jewellery store door while a third man glanced around anxiously. They had been planning this heist for the past two weeks, following and watching the movements of the owners to gather a good idea of the merchandise inside, ensuring that the job was worth the time and effort. But as the store was in a fairly isolated location that police did not often patrol, the opportunity had been too good to pass up. Their employer required only one thing from the inside; they could take anything else they wanted. All they needed now was to get inside before someone saw them and became suspicious of the three larger men who stood outside at such a late hour of the night.

The blonde man ground his teeth together in frustration, the fingers on his hands beginning to flex and move with unwelcome anticipation. Any minute now someone could wander by and interrupt them, wasting all of their efforts in a manner of a few seconds - then they would have nothing. Even worse, they would probably lose the job to some amateur thug who would draw far more attention to the robbery then they would. Without another moment's pause he balled one of his beefy hands into a tight fist and thrust it through the pane of glass on the door, instantly setting off the loud wail of the alarm system.

"Problem solved," he declared gruffly as he unbolted the door and ripped it free of its hinges. "Now move."

They had only about fifteen minutes before the police would arrive in response to the alarm, so they had to work quickly. All three men stepped through the door with forceful steps, broken glass crunching beneath their feet as they approached the glass display cases and proceeded to smash those as well, robbing them of their decorative contents. It seemed like the ideal job; get in, locate a single item, take whatever else they pleased and leave before they were caught. The employer had requested that they make as little mess as possible in terms of casualties, wanting the least amount attention drawn to the robbery as possible - but of course, should someone threaten the operation they would need to be dealt with.

With throaty chuckles they proceeded to smash every case that came within their reach, regardless of whether or not they planned on removing anything from the inside. The bigger the mess they left, the better they would feel about their job. That was just the way it worked for them. But when they reached the large necklaces and precious stones near the back of the store they knew that they had hit the jackpot. These things would see for quite a price on the market that they frequented, without a doubt.

"Those rubies don't match that outfit at all, but they'd look simply darling with an orange jumpsuit. Let me hook you up."

A snarl escaped the curled lip of the blonde as he turned sharply back to the doorway with narrowed eyes. _It would figure that she would show up_, he thought to himself in frustration. There had been quite a few sightings recently of someone who always seemed to arrive on a crime scene before the cops managed to get their act together and respond to the call, but he had yet to encounter her until that night, the very night he had been anxious to avoid.

She wasn't very big, he quickly noticed, which probably accounted for the way she apparently appeared and vanished in the blink of an eye. And a majority of her face was hidden away by a black mask that would safely conceal her identity from anyone who attempted to look for her during the daylight hours. Black leather boots clung to her calves and cut off just before the knee while the rest of her body seemed to be covered in some kind of spandex body suit. It was a deep purple on her legs, until it seemed to vanish under a pair of black shorts that hugged her hips and thighs. The rest of her costume was made up in the same way, with longer sleeves in the same dark purple coming from the ends of the black short sleeved shirt that matched the mask over her eyes.

And on a belt at her hips, he noticed a pair of sais as her choice of weapon.

She leaned up against the door frame with her arms folded loosely across her chest, smirking brightly at them as the light flooded in from behind. Her dark hair had been pulled into a tight ponytail at the back of her head to keep it from her face, an elastic band making a small dent in the hair around her face to show that yet another article was used to keep her eyes free of obstacles. Though the odds in the room seemed to not be in her favour, she showed no outward signs of fear as she gazed deeper into the room and assessed all three of the men who stood about with their hands laden in jewels.

"So, this is the famous Hunter," he smirked, signalling for the other two to continue about their task of gathering up the jewellery. "I must admit, I'm disappointed. Word on the street was that the Hunter was a terrifying warrior that all men should fear. But what I see is nothing more than a little girl in a Halloween costume."

A laugh sounded in the throat of the masked stranger as she pulled her body off of the door frame and stepped slowly inside, her arms still nonchalantly folded against her chest. "They say you're pretty fearsome yourself, Hun. What's that short for? Honeybear?"

His vicious sneer returned in an instant, clearly not at all welcoming of the insult toward his name - or the fact that she knew who he was. Having his name out on the street was not good for business, especially when people who pictured themselves as being vigilantes were able to obtain it so easily. _There had to be a leak among his men_, he thought quickly to himself. There was no other way for this girl to know of him otherwise. But one thing was certain, he had no plans of letting her live so that she could take his name to the cops. Oh no, he'd be damned before he let someone as worthless as the Hunter smirk victoriously at his capture.

"You're too late anyway, Little Hunter," he sneered. "We already have what we came for. So, if you would kindly step aside, I'd hate to see you break a nail."

A smirk slowly curled the one corner of her mouth as she swiftly draw her weapons and twirled them on her fingers, bending her knees slightly in preparation. "Anytime you feel man enough to take me on, go for it. The police should be here soon anyway, and I'm sure they'd love to say hello."

He was clearly becoming annoyed with her snappy remarks, she could see the violent fires rising in his eyes as he grit his teeth and flexed his fingers at his sides. Perfect, she thought, just where she wanted him. All it would take was one more little thing to send him over the edge, giving just enough time for her to knock him unconscious and take care of his two little minions before the police could arrive on scene and see their job already taken care of yet again. But she had evidently miscalculated what it would take to set him off. His roar shook the entire building, the pounding of his footsteps nearly causing her to lose her balance as one of her sais slipped from her grasp and landed on the floor with a clatter. He raised a balled fist, prepared to strike...

And then he froze.

If his eyes had been any wider they would have fallen cleanly from their sockets, she thought with an amused smirk on her lips. Her free hand was now extended toward him, positioned almost as if she was simply telling him to stop and not holding his stationary form a few inches above the ground. Most people weren't accustomed to being held in such a manner by someone so slight, especially when there was no physical connection to remove the husky male's footing from the floor. Even from their place behind their leader, though they themselves were not yet the victims of the assault, both of the men who had been robbing the cases stopped their own movements and gasped in horror at what they saw.

"Wha...what's happening? What have you done to me?" he barked.

The Hunter chuckled and took a few steps forward, raising the point of her sai she still had to this chest. "What's the matter? You're not scared of me, are you? After all, I'm only a little girl in a Halloween costume."

"Don't just stand there, Jackson! Get her!"

There was no hesitation from the mousy little man called Jackson as he moved to do exactly what his boss demanded of him, but the movement of his body was enough to alert her own to the lingering dangers and make her eyes shoot over toward him. A shift in her body weight brought her closer to Hun, the trip of her sai in an even more threatening position than before.

"One more step and you'll be the one to sign his death certificate," she warned.

That stopped the hired thug in his tracks instantly. His eyes flickered between her and his boss, who was still being held captive in some kind of telepathic grip. One wrong move could put an end to his boss, and while there were a great many people more than willing to fight over his place of power Jackson was not ready to have that kind of blood on his hands. Even to the wary eyes of the Hunter, he didn't seem to be the same kind of bloodthirsty, power hungry man she normally associated with these types. No, he was just one of the mindless minions who did whatever he was told at the time.

"Now, drop the stolen property and get down on your knees with your hands behind your head," she instructed. "I want you all to smile pretty when the cops show up and go quietly with them."

"Or you could put the weapons away and let the police deal with them."

There was a noticeable change in the demeanor of the Hunter as this new voice rang out in the night. Her lip curled back into a snarl, flashing a set of pearly whites in a rather menacing way and her eyes narrowed even further beneath her mask. The fingers around her sai tensed as she slowly angled her body around to look at the figure who now stood in the broken doorway. _Damn_, she cursed silently. She had hoped to have more time before he showed up and distracted her from her task, knowing full well that things would no longer go as she had planned with his lingering presence.

At least his appearance was the same though, otherwise she would have to wonder if perhaps she was being followed by multiple people every night. He wore the same trench coat that fell down well past his knees, hiding away any vision of the face that lay beneath it. She had no idea of what he looked like, or how he even managed to find her every night...but it was really pissing her off.

"This is a private party and you're not invited."

"And New York City doesn't need another crazy vigilante to put innocent people in harm's way," he replied sharply in a clearly disapproving tone. "This is the last time I will warn you before I'm forced to take you down myself."

The Hunter laughed. "Take your place in line, pal."

Crossing his arms over his chest, the stranger appeared to be staring her down. "Very well. I gave you a chance to leave quietly."

_BANG!_

A sudden pain arose in her right side as she quickly brought her hands down toward the pain and dropped to one knee, feeling something sticky begin to flow between her fingers. There was another sound as well, one much heavier than the one she had made and louder than the clatter of her second weapon falling to the ground. Another silent curse ran through her mind. Had she just ignored the idiot in the doorway she wouldn't have turned around to face him, giving the third man a chance to pull a gun and shoot her. But he was a lousy shot, she quickly realized. The bullet had only grazed her, meaning that her injury was far less severe than it could have been. And it hurt less than the attack that followed.

Now free of her paralytic hold on him, Hun saw an opportunity to get even while she was still slightly dazed and wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation. His previously frozen fist made solid contact with her cheek and flattened the vigilante against the floor. Then one swift kick to the stomach had her crying out as she flew halfway across the store and rolled right into a pile of broken glass that promptly cut up whatever skin it could find. A groan escaped her lips as she began to push herself upward, only to be stopped by the pressure of his large foot weighing down on her bloody side.

"Don't worry, Little Hunter," he hissed above her, adding more pressure to his foot as she struggled not to scream through grit teeth. "I'm not going to kill you yet. But when I get through with you, you're going to wish you were dead."

His words were barely audible above the blood that pounded in her ears and the ominous voice in her head that demanded she focus on something else to remain conscious. But she could hear something else as well, or at least she thought she could. And it was steadily growing louder with each passing second that she lay there, straining to breath beneath the growing weight against her ribs...

Sirens!

Apparently the others were thinking the same thing. "It's the cops! Come on boss, we got what we came for, let's go!" There was a pause. "Boss!"

The pressure was suddenly released from her side. Coughing and gasping for air she rolled onto her back, holding both hands as firmly to the wound as she could handle before Hun spoke one last time.

"This isn't over."

He kicked her once more for good measure, sending her right into a metal pole from what had once been a support for the doorway. Groaning from the abnormal amount of abuse she had taken that night, the Hunter slowly turned onto her stomach and looked up to find herself completely alone in the store. Hun and his minions had managed to get away, and taken whatever they had been after with them. Another curse fell from her lips as she pushed herself to her knees, fuelled into moving by the approaching sound of the police sirens that were now even closer than they had been before. She still had time to make it out of there undetected, but barely. As long as she wasn't confronted by the stranger again...

Oh, hell! Maybe she hadn't been the target after all!

Even after the threats he had made and the hostile way in which her body had responded to his presence, the Hunter still moved toward the motionless body of the stranger now lying in the doorway. The growing stain of blood on his trench coat betrayed the wound to be dangerously high on his chest, near his collarbone on the left side of his body. A small, albeit laboured, rise and fall in his abdomen convinced her that he was still alive, but for how much longer? She certainly couldn't just drop him off at the local hospital. She would be arrested and blamed for his condition faster than you could say "Big Apple." And the sirens of the approaching police cars were almost deafening now - they would be there any minute.

Dammit, she thought. Of all times to have a conscience.

Pressing down firmly on the wound with one hand, her other reached down to pull him into a sitting position and hurriedly throw his arm around her neck for support. Her teeth grit against the pain and added strain of his dead weight as she hauled them both upward and made her way to the back exit as quickly as she could. There was only one safe place for them both to go now.

"You better be worth all this trouble," she grumbled to his unconscious body as she staggered out onto the street and headed for the nearest bunch of shadows. "Or you and I are going to have some major issues when you wake up."


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's another chapter, guys. This one took a little while to edit because there is no immediate dialogue to worry about, but hopefully you guys will be interested in continuing on with this story anyway. Please feel free to leave me a review once you've read through it, because I'd love to hear what you think!**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

Making her way back to her own place of residence had proven to be far more difficult than she had originally anticipated it would be, the added weight of another body slowing her down considerably as she struggled to move quickly and ducked from sight when police cars went racing down the street toward the jewellery store they had just left. It normally wasn't an issue at all to simply remove herself from the scene and return home, moving her way swiftly along the rooftops with an ease that most people would never find living in New York. Tonight however, proved to be a challenge unto itself as she was forced to use the streets, knowing her body would be unable to make the leaps and bounds between the rooftops while she carried this stranger on her back. His interruption that night had certainly caused quite the problem for her, and she was going to be sure to tell him so when she had patched him up and gotten him as far from her home as possible. If she had been able to go anywhere else with him she would have...but there was no place else. Taking him to a hospital would mean that she would be forced to reveal herself as she was in a public manner, and she wasn't prepared to do that just yet.

And besides, she really didn't want to deal with the hospital security.

The young woman grit her teeth as she hauled both herself and the stranger into the alleyway beside her building, ducking as far back into the shadows as she could in order to prevent anyone from seeing them before she closed her eyes, focusing her mind on the task ahead. Her feet slowly began to rise until she no longer touched the ground, sweat dripping down the sides of her face from the effort she exerted in her concentration. In less than a minute she managed to levitate them both high enough to step onto the fire escape, releasing her body from the temporary hold she had placed upon it and swiping a hand across the air in front of her, prompting the window to open without her touch.

She stumbled through with the stranger still on her back, nearly losing her footing as she stepped into the living room of her apartment and hurried to lay his unconscious form on the couch, never-minding the blood that she could see seeping through his coat and onto the fabric of the couch itself. There would be time to clean that up later, after she had removed the bullet from his body and patched up the wound that had been made. In a flash the domino mask was removed from her eyes and thrown onto the table beside the couch, her footsteps carrying her into the kitchen to gather the necessary supplies that she had stored for herself under the sink. Unfortunately, this was not the first time that she had been forced into dealing with such wounds, as she often walked away from an encounter with some of her own, though she had never had to deal with a gunshot wound before. It was his own fault for causing a distraction, she thought as she filled the first of two bowls with cool water and held the other tightly in her arm. A cloth was quickly dumped into the cool water as she turned the sink off and moved back to kneel beside the stranger who now lay on her couch, blue eyes scanning the coat that he wore over his body as the blood continued to spread along the material. She didn't have the time to do this the normal way, she realized. There was too much blood on him, not to mention whatever there was on her own body from carrying him as far as she had.

She'd have to do this her way.

Gloves were peeled away from her hands and quickly discarded on the floor beside her as she shifted a little closer to his body, fingers reaching out to pull at the buttons that kept his coat tightly closed around his abdomen. As the first was unbuttoned, she noted something strange laying beneath the surface, a greenish colour that was not typical of human beings. Thinking it to be nothing she continued her way down the coat until at last the material slipped right down his side, and the young woman gasped in shock at what she saw. In an instant she removed his gloves and hat as well, her eyes wide and her breathing hitched for a moment. She'd heard of the crocodiles in the sewers rumour, since it was an urban legend that made New York famous alongside the millions of other things it actually had. But this was beyond anything she had ever seen before, beyond the thugs that combed the streets at night and the scum who hunted in the darkness for easy prey that they could attack.

He was a damn turtle!

And not just any turtle either, she noted. He was about as big as your average human, slightly taller than she was if she was looking at him right, his back adorned with a shell which made it a little more awkward based on how she had laid him on the couch. The skin on his body was of a jade green colour, his hands and feet sporting only three fingers and toes each while his face was covered by a length of blue cloth that had been tied around his eyes like a mask. A walking, talking turtle had somehow managed to grow in New York City, and had thus far gone completely undetected by the civilian population. What the hell was all over the city that would allow such mutations to happen...and how in the world did they manage to survive without being seen by people?

The young woman quickly gave her head a shake as she reminded herself that there was someone who needed her attention, and that if she didn't act quickly then she might lose him for good and never find out why he had been out there following her that night. It didn't matter yet what he was, or how he had come to be. All that mattered was that he was an innocent life that needed to be saved, and she was his only chance at life at that moment. Tugging back the sleeves of her costume, the young woman flexed her hands and held them over the wound that was now crusted with his dried blood. Her eyes closed and she inhaled deeply, steadying herself for the energy that she knew would shortly be leaving her own body to do what needed to be done.

Gentle exhalation at the mouth was when it all began, a soft white glowing in her hands that spread down to his green skin and further lit the area that surrounded his wound. A small speck of black shot up and out of the hole that had been created in his body and into one of her hands, which immediately snapped closed around the object. A slight convulsion of the muscles appeared in his abdomen, but neither he nor her second hand moved as she continued her work. Very slowly, as the light continued to glow brightly from the palm of her hand, the wound began to close itself up and heal until at last there was nothing left to know that the wound had even existed. Even the dried blood was gone.

The light faded away and the young woman fell back on her heels, eyes opening slowly to look ahead in a bit of a haze. It had been a while since it had required that much energy to heal a wound, and it left her with a rather light-headed feeling that made everything before her dance a little. She placed her open hand gingerly against her face as everything slowly began to shift back into focus, looking down at the fist she still held and carefully opened her fingers. Inside was the remains of the bullet that had been lodged in his body, a small stump of twisted metal that no longer resembled the shape it had been in prior to being fired from the gun. It was still covered in the blood of the creature that she had saved, her eyes lifting again to ensure that his chest was rising and falling in a steady rhythm before she soaked the cloth in the bowl of water that she had brought and wrung it out, placing it against his brow to try and cool his body.

Now there was just herself to deal with, as she pushed herself back to her feet and moved unsteadily into the kitchen. Her patient was now free from danger and sleeping comfortably, but she knew there would only be a few hours before things started to get really awkward really fast, which prompted the Hunter to start moving as quickly as her body would allow. Oh yes, she had drained a lot more energy than she had thought originally. She blinked several times, a hand gripping the countertop tightly until the room eventually stopped spinning around her and she could move a little easier. Perhaps now she could focus on her own wound, which had not bled nearly as much as his had since it was only a graze, but still stung like crazy.

She'd have to patch up her suit as well, she remembered.

She discarded the bullet in a small dish by the sink, knowing that she would want to take another look at it later when she wasn't worried about an unwelcome house guest, and washed her hands to remove the small traces of blood that she had picked up in handling the object. Healing her side would not be as quick and painless as originally anticipated, considering the amount of energy that she had spent in saving her stalker, which meant that a more conventional style of healing would need to take place. And to do that, she would need to get out of her costume entirely. Oh, what a fine mess she was in, she thought bitterly to herself as she dried her hands on the towel that hung from the handle of the oven door and wandered down the little hallway. Into the second door on her left she went, half closing the door without a worry about the occupant of her couch. He would be out for a little while now, and that meant that she wasn't in any danger of having him wake up to see her face without the mask.

Slowly peeling the material away from her body she began the painful process of shedding her suit, teeth grit against the discomfort she felt as it clung to her skin. Ordinarily it was not this difficult to shed her nightly persona and take on the face she wore in the streets by day, nor did she typically suffer from a wound that would make the material stick to her, as it was doing now. Between the blood and the sweat that had fallen it was almost like there was an adhesive layer that refused to allow her flesh to part with her suit at all, which only annoyed the young woman further as she attempted to shed the outer shell. But it needed to be done, and the wound itself had to be cleaned before infection set in and further impaired her ability to go out afterward and track down the people responsible for these injuries.

"Son of a-"

At last the material gave way and was pulled free of her skin, leaving only a burning sensation in its place as she tossed the costume to the side to worry about later. The young woman groaned against the ache that she felt and quickly moved to her closet, grabbing the first pair of dark blue jeans that she saw to pull over her bruised legs. Oh yes, Hun had gotten a couple of good hits in before he had disappeared, she could see them on her body as she turned to glance at her reflection in the mirror. Already there were swirls of purple, red and brown all over the skin of her legs and torso, the worst of which appeared around the gash in her side. She needed to tend to it, she couldn't put it off for too long. Who knew where that gun had been before she had been shot? And since she hadn't yet examined the bullet that had been lodged in the creature now occupying her couch, she couldn't be totally sure whether or not the bullets were bought or made. That alone could help her narrow down her search. If Hun thought that he was going to get away with what he had done, he had another thing coming.

The thin black sweater that she had thrown on the bed earlier was quickly picked up again and held tightly in her hand as she removed the elastics from her hair and allowed her dark locks to sweep around her face, footsteps carrying her back out into the kitchen once more. She wore only the black material of her bra on her upper body, sparing herself the aggravation of constantly trying to sweep a shirt to the side. Bare feet crossed the cool kitchen floor, the sweater tossed hap hazardously on the island as her hands began to busy themselves with the second bowl that she had brought out earlier, filling it with warm water and a little of the hand soap she kept near the edge of the kitchen sink. This was going to sting, even more so than it already did, but it needed to be done. Before she could change her mind she soaked a cloth in the water and brought it swiftly to her skin, hissing and hunching forward as contact was made and her body tensed against the pain that she felt lurking in her side. A slight turn of her head allowed her blue eyes to look down on the wound, seeing the small traces of blood appear in the cloth from this new attack on her flesh. She dabbed at it gently with her fingers and brushed it with a clean edge of the cloth, removing the crusted blood that still stuck to her and the now dried bits of skin that easily fell away from her body entirely.

With the wound finally cleaned she applied a little cream to the affected area before she covered it with a piece of gauze, held in place by thick pieces of tape on all sides to make sure that she didn't accidentally remove it before it was time. Nimble fingers reached out to collect her sweater again, wincing a little as she put both of her arms through and pulled it over her head, adjusting the bottom edge until it lay neatly around the rest of her stomach and hips. And now that she was finished sorting herself out, she now had to deal with the biggest question of the night. What the hell was she supposed to do with that giant turtle laying on her couch? It wasn't like she could just leave him somewhere else. She didn't know who would find him and what they might do to him when they figured out that it wasn't simply some punk kid in a costume. Her moral code wouldn't let her abandon him like that anyway…

A groan from the living room suddenly caught her attention and caused her head to snap around in his direction, listening to him stir. He should have been out for several hours after that, regardless of how quickly she had been able to heal the bullet hole in his chest. The springs in the couch groaned a little as he moved about, stretching the stiffness out of his body after the time he had spent immobile. And it was at that very moment that she saw his head peak over the top of the couch, looking about him as he tried to gather where he was and how he possibly could have gotten there from the jewellery store. In that same instant, the girl realized that her mask was still lying on the table next to the couch and out of reach. A hand quickly shot out as she tried to summon the mask over toward herself, the other arm wrapped tightly around her body to keep the bandage in place against her jerky movements. But her efforts at healing his otherwise fatal wound had reduced her to low energy levels, so low that she no longer had the strength to protect herself if he should attack her.

"Where am I?" he groaned, lifting a hand to his head as he rubbed it gently to alleviate the headache he was sure to be feeling. "What happened?"

He had not yet noticed that there was someone else in the area, a benefit in the eyes of the young woman who looked about her for some means of escape. To allow him to see her would not only reveal her identity to him, but it would likely mean that he could come after her with much more ease in the nights to follow, and that was not what she wanted after her failure to stop Hun that night. She looked almost frantically about her, praying that there might be something, anything, that could spare her from this situation.

A gasp sounded as the turtle looked down at his body and leapt to his feet, hands moving over the area that had previously been marked by a bullet hole. And in doing so, he lifted his eyes to finally see the girl in the kitchen.

"Who are you?" he demanded, looking about him with unease. "What have you done to me?"

The girl scoffed a little. "Wow, aren't we just brimming with gratitude…" she muttered to herself, giving up on the idea of hiding her face from his eyes. "I happen to be the one who saved your life, and I _could_ have left you to die at the jewellery store where the police would have found you."

The creature blinked at her, taking a small step backward as the information seemed to sink in. For a moment he stood there in silence, staring at her with disbelief written across his face and shock in his eyes. "You're the Hunter?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I am."

"I don't understand," he murmured, giving his head a bit of a shake. "You can't be any older than sixteen. What are you doing on the streets that late at night?"

"Seventeen," she corrected with a little toss of her head, removing a few stray locks of hair from her eyes as she continued to stare at the creature who made no effort to hide himself from her. "I don't sleep well at night, and I have a problem with people like Hun who abuse innocent people." The young woman crossed her arms over her chest, shifting her weight a little between her feet. "I don't particularly enjoy being called a freak, either."

"You don't look like a freak to me," he told her softly. "You look pretty normal from where I stand."

The girl rolled her eyes, her tone rather bitter. "You weren't standing a few minutes ago."

A silence fell between them as the young woman lowered her eyes, suddenly feeling rather self-conscious about having another living being in her apartment with her. She was so accustomed to living on her own that sharing the space even for a short while was strange, as was the feeling that she got when finally she lifted her gaze and found that the expression he wore on his face had softened considerably toward her. The expression he now wore was one that confused her greatly, for it was neither sympathy nor sadness that she read in the dark brown orbs of his eyes. Nevertheless it made her uneasy to know that she couldn't read it, especially since he was more than capable of moving about the apartment without any further issue.

"At least you look normal," he sighed, glancing down at one of his green hands and flexing his fingers. "As you've seen, I can't really go anywhere without a total disguise. People would think I was a monster."

Shifting her weight, the girl pressed her back against the countertop, flinching slightly at the jab that she felt surge through her side. "I might look like everyone else, but you've seen what I can do." A small smirk crossed her lips as she gave a hollow laugh. "And that's not even _all_ that I can do."

The two sat in silence for a moment as they contemplated their own dilemmas, struggling to make sense of the world that they had each been born into. It was clear that neither of them were overly fond of the hand that they had been dealt, but that they struggled to make the best of what they had in their own way. Finally, the girl let out a soft sigh and moved a piece of her dark hair from her eyes, looking up at the turtle with a resigned expression on her face.

"Do you have a name?"

The turtle nodded lightly, lifting his dark eyes from the spot that his fingers brushed lightly against his side as if trying to remember the wound he had previously had. "My name is Leonardo," he said to her. "Leo."

She offered him a small smile. "I'm Destiny," came the words she had not thought she would say. "Or Des if you prefer. I'd say it was a pleasure to meet you, but I don't think the circumstances were really the greatest."

At this, she could see a small smirk begin to form in the corner of his lips, his arms moving to fold over his chest in a mirror image of her own stance and the weight of his body shifting to sit a little more evenly between his legs. There was something rather powerful in the way that he stood, watching her carefully as if he were making his own observations about her the very same way that she was about him. And in truth, she was certain that he was doing just that. It wasn't every day that she came across someone as unique as he was, and she was pretty sure that he was not accustomed to being shot and healed so quickly all in the span of an hour or so. That would likely have been the most dangerous wound he had ever received in his life, and it was all because he had gotten himself involved and become a distraction when they both needed to be on their guard. Well, it wouldn't happen again, Destiny told herself firmly as she shifted a little against the countertop. This would likely prove to be the last that she ever saw of him.

"I can't say that I've ever had a night like this before," he admitted to her, allowing his eyes to drift and take in his surroundings. "You have some rather amazing gifts."

A frown overtook her features, darkening her expression. "Not gifts," she corrected. "Curses."

He seemed to regard her with a look of confusion now as he slowly moved around the side of the couch, footsteps slow as if he were waiting for her to become uncomfortable with his approach. There was a curiosity that lingered behind his eyes as he moved, careful not to make any sudden movements that might otherwise spook her until at last he stopped on the other side of the island, only a few feet away from her. There was no fear in his face, she noted quickly to herself. No sign of disgust, no hesitation that might otherwise prompt him to take up a defensive position against her. Leo simply seemed to look upon her as if he didn't understand where her hatred for her own abilities came from, tilting his head slightly to the one side like this new angle might reveal something more about her than she had allowed him to know. Were she not feeling as if she were standing under a dark cloud at that moment, Destiny might have allowed herself to laugh lightly at his stance. Clearly though, he wasn't afraid of her.

"Why would you say that?" he asked her slowly, one hand coming to rest on his hip while the other touched the top of the island lightly. "If it weren't for your abilities, I'm pretty sure I would have died. But you somehow managed to…well, I'm not entirely sure what you did. But whatever it was, it looks as if I was never hurt at all."

The brunette shook her head a little and turned her eyes away from him, arms folded almost defensively against her chest at his comments. "I'm Frankenstein's monster," she told him ruefully, her jaw tightening at the words. "He just got a little better at making me look normal on the outside, that's all."

"Still-"

"Still nothing, Leo," she interrupted, lifting a hand to emphasize her point a little. "The truth of the matter is that I was not born this way, nor do I even know the extent of what I am capable of, and that's scary. I never really know what will set my abilities off when I go out in public, or what might happen as the days progress and I go out to patrol the city streets. All I know is that as long as there are people like Hun and the Purple Dragons running amuck, I can't just sit in my apartment and ignore them."

Her arms shifted lower until they were wound tightly around her stomach and she pulled the material of her sweater as close to her skin as possible, hissing softly as she made contact with the wound that was only beginning to heal. Instantly her body hunched forward a little, shocked by the contact against the open sore. But almost as quickly as she had leaned over it, she straightened herself up again and took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she did. The eyes were often able to tell the truths that someone wished to hide, and she had no desire to let her thoughts be read by a total stranger, most especially one as potentially dangerous as the creature in her kitchen could be.

A silence fell between them yet again and hung heavily in the air, keeping each in their own thoughts as they assessed the situation at hand how best to handle it. Now that they knew the other existed in more than simply a vigilante form and shadowy stranger, there were bound to be a million questions just raging through their minds. But the biggest one of all had yet to be asked…for neither one yet knew the answer to it.

Now that they knew, what were they going to do about it?

"He hit you, didn't he?" Leo asked her softly, his dark eyes slowly lowering to the hand that gingerly held onto her bandaged side. "The man who shot me. He hit you too."

Destiny nodded slowly. "It's just a graze. Nothing as serious as the injury you sustained."

"Can you heal it?"

At this, the young woman shook her head so that her curls fanned lightly around her face. "No, unfortunately not. Healing you required quite a bit of my energy, more than I had originally anticipated. It'll be a little annoying, but this wound will have to heal itself naturally."

"I'm sorry."

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about," she assured him, letting her hand fall away. "The choice to save you was mine, and this is a consequence of that choice. There are consequences to everything we do, whether we like it or not, so why stress over it? Unless of course, you plan on killing me now to make sure that I don't tell everyone about you."

A smirk crossed the turtle's features to match the one he saw reflected in his direction. Folding his arms over his chest, he allowed the weight to fall evenly between his legs as he asked, "And who would believe you anyway if you said you had a life sized, walking, talking turtle in your kitchen?"

Laughter sounded gently from the far side of the kitchen. "People believe that there are alligators in the sewer, don't they?"

"Well, I suppose. But a turtle would be a new one for New York."

The two of them couldn't help but share a laugh at the thought of people running about on the streets as they spread the rumour of turtles to whomever would listen. There were already those who continued to swear that the world was coming to an end, or that the alligators were in fact a living danger beneath their feet, and people passed them by without a second glance. Even if she were to hurry down to the street and tell the very first person she ran into, Destiny knew that she would be brushed aside just like all of the others who firmly believed in something that seemed a farfetched fantasy to the rest of the population. And if word ever got out that she had done such a thing, she was pretty sure that her job would then be at risk.

"Look, I don't mean to be rude-"

"Yeah," Leo nodded, giving her a small smile. "I really should be going."

Before she could say much else, he had crossed the distance of the living room until he was standing by the very same open window that she had first brought him through. He didn't bother to put his disguise back on, but simply carried the bloody coat over his arm while one hand held tightly to the gloves and hat that she had thrown onto the floor earlier. One leg slipped through the window and he ducked his head to follow with his body, but Destiny impulsively called out and halted his movements.

"Wait!"

Pausing, Leo turned his head back to her, looking toward her with curious eyes.

"Will I see you again?"

The turtle smiled. "After what you've done for me tonight, I have a debt to repay. We will see one another again, I'm sure."

And with that, Leonardo slipped out of the window and disappeared into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here is another installment, with the next chapter being worked on as we speak. I know these are coming fairly quickly right now, but this likely won't last for too long. School and life will undoubtably get in the way and things will slow down...but for the time being I have chapters to post and I'll do my best to get them up as quickly as possible. Leave me a review when you're done reading!  
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><p><span><strong>Chapter Three<strong>

"Where have _you_ been?"

He could already hear the accusation that was laced in those four simple words, and he instantly tightened his hold around the folded coat that he carried in his arms. Yes, he had technically left without letting anyone know that he planned on going topside, but he was old enough now that he hadn't thought it was such a big deal. Of course, the intention was only to watch out for the vigilante who had taken it upon herself to guard the streets of New York and leave the thugs in piles throughout the city for the police to arrest. He hadn't planned on becoming involved that night, which was why he had appeared at the crime scene without the usual weaponry that adorned the back of his shell. And he definitely hadn't expected to encounter the Hunter in the manner that he had.

Frowning darkly at the shadow from which the voice had come, Leo straightened his shoulders a little. "None of your business."

Stepping forward into the light, the dark green body leaned heavily upon the edge of the wall with his arms folded across his chest. "Maybe not," he said gruffly as the smirk grew a little wider on his face. "But I'm not actually the one who cares to know."

For a moment, Leo didn't quite understand what it was that was being said to him. All he could focus on was the way in which his brother leaned against the wall, so relaxed in his posture and unafraid of what might happen in a split second. It was the exact same way that Destiny had faced down Hun and the two other Purple Dragons that night when she had thought to stop their robbery, before things got out of hand and they both got hurt. He blinked, his mind not registering nothing else until the body stood upright and hands fell to the sides, a look of question crossing the face of his brother.

Leo gave his head a small shake. "It's fine. _I'm_ fine."

"No, it ain't bro. Sensei wants to see you."

Holding back a groan of frustration, Leo rubbed his tired eyes. All he wanted to do at that moment was return to the safety of his own room and take a little time to himself in which he could think about what had happened that night. He didn't want the answer the questions of his brothers, and he certainly had no desire to approach his sensei and discuss the issue with him either. It wasn't that he didn't trust Master Splinter – in fact he was the closest thing that Leonardo had ever known to a father. But if he couldn't yet make sense of this new path that life had presented to him, how on earth was he supposed to discuss it with someone else and explain the situation?

Yet he knew that there was no way to avoid the summons that had been delivered to him, regardless of who it was that had presented the command to him. Standing tall and squaring his shoulders a little, Leo lead himself deeper into the lair that was his home until he came to the room with the thin paper door, a traditional Japanese _shoji_ screen that depicted a peaceful little village and cherry blossoms to provide privacy for the person on the inside. For a moment he paused, wondering if perhaps there was a way in which he could just turn himself around and retreat to the safety of his own room without being discovered.

"Enter."

His shoulders fell at the sound of the voice on the other side, the tone betraying absolutely nothing of how the heart might be feeling about his absence. Despite the trust that he had been given over the years, Master Splinter continued to worry when things were not right between his sons, or if one of them disappeared for an extended period of time. So through the door Leo went, stepping carefully over the threshold and then sliding the screen closed behind him before he dared to take those slow steps into the room and kneel upon the floor before his master.

"You sent for me, Sensei?"

"Yes," nodded Master Splinter as he turned himself slowly and peered down at him with dark eyes. "You have been gone for several hours without a word to your brothers. They were afraid that you had decided to go after the Hunter again."

_Damn Donnie_, he thought to him. Of all his brothers, he knew of only one who would actually approach their sensei with such a concern, for while the others knew exactly where he had been going none of them were interested enough to accompany him on his nightly searches. But perhaps that was a good thing, considering what had happened. None of them needed to know that he had been exposed to the eyes of yet another human. In truth, he didn't even know that this girl counted as being completely human anyway, given the abilities that she had displayed to him that night. And she had stated that what he had seen wasn't even the extent of her capabilities…

"Did you encounter the Hunter?"

"Yes, Sensei."

"And were you see by anyone else?"

There was no immediate answer. Leonardo closed his eyes and bowed his head a little, hands balling into fists against his knees as he inhaled deeply to delay his answer. But it seemed that the silence was all that was required of him, for he heard his master sigh softly before he turned away and began to move himself slowly down the steps of the platform on which he stood.

"Leonardo-"

"There were Purple Dragons robbing a jewellery store," he interrupted, his eyes still closed against the penetrating stare of his master. "The Hunter…she was there to stop them. So I tried to stop her." A silence fell between them and allowed Leo to relax his shoulders a little. "We were both hurt and the Purple Dragons got away with whatever it was that they had come for. But Master, she…she saved my life."

Very slowly the turtle looked upward into the dark eyes of the sensei who studied him so closely at these words, scrutinizing every detail that he had come to know over the past many years. After a moment his nose twitched a little and a hand reached out to gently touch the very same spot on his shoulder where the bullet had been lodged only a few hours before. Though the wound had been closed up and the blood removed from his green skin, there was still the faintest outline of the mark that nearly brought an early end to his life, a paler circle that did not escape the notice of Master Splinter.

Neither spoke for what felt like an eternity as the study of the area continued. Leo almost felt as if he were holding his breath while he waited for some word of the punishment that surely awaited him for going topside without letting anyone know. But it never came. Instead Master Splinter slowly withdrew his hand and blinked down at his son, his tail swishing lightly against the ground around his feet.

The old rat gazed at him with a frown. "She knows what you are."

Leonardo nodded silently.

"She possesses great power."

Again, the turtle nodded. "She isn't like April," he began slowly, the gears of his mind beginning to whirl around as he struggled to try to piece her together into an explanation. "She has powers and abilities that I've never known any human to possess. But it's almost like she's afraid of them, Master. She fears what she can do with these abilities and how the world would view her…just like we do."

It was a conundrum he didn't know that he would ever understand. On the one hand he knew what it was like to fear the world and the people in it, knowing that they were sure to judge you harshly for being different from them. But at the same time her differences were things that she could hide from the public eye if she chose to do so. Nobody had to know that she could place a telepathic hold on someone or heal a broken body that was close to death. If you were gifted with such power then why would you hide it away like it's something to be ashamed of? Wouldn't the world rejoice to hear that there was someone who might be able to help them in their hour of need?

And yet he couldn't help but remember the wound that had been on her side, the one that she said she wouldn't be able to heal because she had spent her energy in saving him. Was there a limit to the amount of power her body could exert before it became a danger to her own health? Because if this was the case then he wouldn't want anyone to know about a power like that either. As soon as a single person discovered the truth she would have a million different people knocking down her front door, begging to be cured of even the simplest ailments that would resolve themselves in time. Cuts, bruises, the common cold…it would be a nightmare.

Master Splinter was the one to break the silence. "Then it would seem that you owe her a debt."

A soft sigh passed the turtle's lips. "I don't even know how to begin repaying this one, Master Splinter. It's not like it is with April…this girl, she's different."

The candles in the room continued to flicker brightly against the darkened cornered where the light could not reach, creating long shadows against the far wall as Leonardo continued to kneel before his master. His head hung slightly, unable to meet the eye of the sensei who was responsible for raising him and his brothers from their tender infancy and through the turbulent years of their growing up after being affected by the experimental drugs that had been pumped into their systems. Master Splinter had seen Leo through a great many things, but this was something entirely different than anything he had witnessed before.

It was almost as if there was a sense of guilt about him that he could barely contain.

"What is it that continues to trouble you, my son?"

Hands balled into tight fists against his knees, eyes closing tightly to try and block out the images that had begun to plague him since he had interrupted the fight at the jewellery store and awoken inside a strange apartment. The distain that she had initially shown him when she believed him to be a meddling human had melted away completely after she had saved him from death, even after discovering that he wasn't actually human. She hadn't left him to die nor even threatened to hold him captive until she could expose his existence to the world. She'd simply healed him and let him go.

"She wasn't scared of me," he mumbled softly. "Even when she saw what I was, she wasn't scared. I saw her face, her powers…even her home. And the only thing she did was smile and let me go. But why? I don't understand."

To hear the question only made the sensei smile a little more as he stepped forward and gently placed his clawed hand upon Leonardo's shoulder. "Sometimes the greatest gifts of life come from mysterious places," he said wisely. "And we must accept them as they are given to us."

Leo's head snapped up and his eyes widened a little as he looked at his master, a little surprised to hear those words as his gaze was met with a kind smile. In not so many words, Master Splinter was bestowing his blessing, assuring Leonardo that it was alright for him to have these feelings in regards to the human girl he had only just met. There was no chastising for having gone to the surface without his brothers, nor even for continuing in his quest to stop the Hunter from roaming the streets at night in her vigilante costume. All he saw was the acceptance that radiated from the depths of the dark eyes that his master possessed, the very same acceptance that he had seen when Destiny leaned against her kitchen counter and allowed him to approach her.

But this had to be a secret, he thought quickly to himself. At least for now. He didn't want anyone else to learn that he had contacted another human from the surface world, partly out of a selfish desire to have something of his own and partly out of a need he felt to protect her. For now she thought him to be the only one of his kind, a strange being that somehow survived the somewhat harsh life that one could expect while living in New York City. She didn't know anything about the life that he lead within the sewers, moving about beneath the feet of more than a million people each and every day. And she didn't need to know. Not just yet.

"I'm still not sure-"

"Leonardo," came his master's voice in a low rumble. "Your paths have crossed for a reason, but the journey to discovering that reason must be taken by you alone."

Leo nodded. "Yes, Father."

As the hand slowly pulled away from his shoulder, Leo knew that he was being dismissed. The turtle rose to his feet and faced his master, bowing slightly at the waist before he turned on his heel and headed back out into the main area of the lair. All he wanted now was to find his way into his room, close the door and just lay in the silence until sleep overtook his tired mind. The unending questions would surely continue to bother him when he awoke again in the morning, but Leonardo knew that it would take a great deal of thinking for him to answer any of them. And even then, he knew that there was only one more alternative that he would have to accept before he dared to push those questions any further.

He needed to see her again.


	4. Chapter 4

**While I continue to work away on more chapters, here is another for those who have an interesting in continuing to read this story. I hope you're keeping count, because things are really going to start getting interesting from this point on! The die has been cast and Destiny is about to find herself in a shell of a lot more trouble than she originally anticipated. Leave me a review when you're done, and please feel free to share this story with anyone else you think might enjoy it!  
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><p><span><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

Man, if she wasn't undercover, she'd have wanted to be anywhere but here.

There were too many people milling about, all of them dressed in some form of costume as they moved between the booths and displays with all of the geeky paraphernalia that one could ever dream of being showcased to them. Everywhere she turned there was a Batman or a Poison Ivy walking around, or perhaps an anime character that someone had fallen in love with while watching their show. These kinds of conventions happened frequently in New York City and were never empty…but they also served as a great place for bad things to happen as well. The police and security guards are duty would be far more concerned with making such that the people in costumes didn't get out of hand that they barely paid attention to those who looked a little more "normal."

She had reason to believe that the Purple Dragons were meeting up with someone here to obtain new orders, having been successful in their last mission. Granted, most of that reason had been because she'd located and stalked the man called "Jackson" after her encounter with Leo a few days ago, but the man had led her to the convention and so into the throng of people she had gone.

There had been no room for her to go as the Hunter though. As soon as they spotted her costume in the crowd Destiny knew that the Purple Dragons would be alerted to her presence and bail before she could get the information she was looking for. So the black and purple costume that she had been mending had been left at home, and instead a different costume was worn. It was simple, something that would have people guessing at who it was she had decided to imitate that day, but taking recent events into account, she had thought the costume to be rather appropriate for her current location.

It was a dark green body suit that first caught the eye, one that stretched down her torso and legs until it tucked neatly into the black boots that she had taken from her vigilante persona for the day. Around her hips hung her sais, held in place by a thick belt of blue fabric that wrapped around her twice before she had knotted it firmly against her right hip. The same material was also on her face, creating a mask from which her eyes sparkled bright as she looked about her for signs of mischief. There were no sleeves to this body suit, leaving her arms and hands completely exposed to any attack that might come for her in time. But she had taken the time that morning to paint her nails a shade of blue that almost matched the material around her eyes and hips, smiling softly when she caught sight of her reflection in one of the display cases.

_Maybe I should have put a shell on my back too_, she thought to herself in amusement. Boy, if Leonardo saw her now she was pretty sure that he would know her without having to guess too hard. He had become the inspiration behind her look, albeit with a few changes, but she would not be able to blend into the crowd a little better than she would have if she had opted to simply show up with her Hunter persona on instead. Thankfully, not too many people in New York had yet seen her when she roamed the streets at night, which meant that there were no copycat looks to be seen within the walls of the convention center. Even as she made her way up and down the aisles, taking in the various costumes around her, Destiny couldn't see anything that really stood out as being reminiscent of her own personal look.

And thank goodness for that.

Up and down the crowded rows she went, dodging the shoulders of people who weren't really paying attention to their surroundings as they talked in excited tones about the people they planned on meeting, or the characters that they had already seen since walking in the door. It didn't really come as a shock when she had to step out of the way from getting trampled, but Destiny was a little annoyed by about the fifth time with the lack of manners being displayed by people. There were no apologies, no glanced backward to ensure that she was alright or anything. They just went on their way as if there was nothing more important in the world than having their lunchbox signed by the guy who played some random character in the sixties.

But as she stepped out of the way yet again, Destiny felt something crunch beneath her foot that immediately threw her off balance and sent her flying sideways into another line of traffic. Natural instinct said to just catch herself telepathically and make it look like more of a stumble, she'd done it before on the streets when people were pushing their way along the sidewalks and into the actual road. Just as she was about to do that, however, she felt someone place their hands around her shoulders to catch her before she could actually fall too far, landing instead against someone's chest.

"Whoa, dudette! Better watch your step in here or you'll get trampled!"

"No kidding. Thanks for the hand, I hope I didn't-"

She instantly froze as she looked up into the face of the person who held her, seeing them smile down at her as they released her shoulders from their grip. But he didn't seem to notice at all. "No problem-o!"

Destiny gave her head a bit of a shake and blinked several times, but there was no mistaking what she saw standing before her regardless of the costume pieces that he wore. Hell, it had been completely naive to imagine that there was only one of him running around in New York, but to run into another one right now? Not even fourty-eight hours had passed since she had encountered Leonardo at the jewellery store heist, and now she was being forced to come face to face with another of his kind. Yet it seemed that this one didn't have the same regard for stealth as Leo did, she mused.

"So…the Turtle Titan, huh?" she asked weakly, glancing up and down at the costume that he wore.

Instantly, his face lit up. "Dude, you know the Turtle Titan?!"

Destiny nodded. "Yeah, oddly enough."

"That's totally awesome!" he exclaimed, looking down at her with a wide grin. "He's only, like, the coolest super hero out there, man!"

"He's definitely something else," she agreed, smiling despite herself at the level of enthusiasm that he showed.

Movements over his shoulder caught her eye, causing them to flicker instantly in the direction of the hulking figures who moved back and forth along the far wall. Almost immediately the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, alerting her to the fact that there was danger afoot for her to deal with. Apparently her sources had been correct. There was going to be something happen at the convention that day.

"Uh…well, it was nice meeting you. Thanks again for your help."

Without giving him time to respond, Destiny stepped swiftly around him and headed back into the maze of people who seemed to swarm around her, nudging them gently to the side as she drew nearer her target. There were a few harsh glares, a couple of people moaning and groaning about the fact that she was going against the flow of traffic and could have torn their sleeves, but she ignored them all. She was so intently focused on the group of men who stood at the far end of the hall that everyone else was immediately shut out of her consciousness and practically ignored on the journey there.

Through a door on the far wall they went, disappearing from sight as Destiny struggled to get through the crowd and over toward them before they managed to get away. If they got too far ahead of her then she was bound to lose them entirely, and thus miss the opportunity to find out what it was that the Purple Dragons were next planning. Better still, she wanted the chance to find out who it was that they were working for, and to let them get away with such vital information was not acceptable. There was no way of knowing how many lives were at risk until she discovered what they were up to…

As carefully as possible, Destiny pressed her back against the wall and glanced about her before she twisted the handle of the door and pushed it aside, allowing her body to slip through the crack and into the slightly darker room that lay on the other side. There seemed to be no flow of traffic like there was in the room outside, but she knew immediately that there was something else going on, because she could hear voices in the distance. And just as she was able to venture a little further, she felt herself pulled back into a shadowed corner with her arms twisted upward a little to prevent her from moving away. Hissing in pain, Destiny turned her head, trying to see the face of her attacker.

"You'd better have a damn good reason for this," she growled, feeling a body press up against her back.

"Relax," said the male voice. "I don't want to hurt you. But I'd be totally down with you telling me what you think you're doing."

_Damn it!_

In her haste to get away from him and follow her prey, Destiny had disregarded the fact that he would likely have followed her much in the same way that Leo had followed the Hunter for weeks before he had finally confronted her. She had been all-too-willing to just ignore him and carry on with the initial plan…and apparently that had been the wrong choice. The turtle had chosen to follow her, somehow moving within the convention center so swiftly and silently that she hadn't even noticed how he had come to be in the room before her, hidden away in a corner that was not easily visible to anyone else in the room. The time for figuring that out, though, would come later. First, she needed to figure out how to get away from him and into the other room before the Purple Dragons got their orders and managed to get away again.

"Let me go," she warned darkly, her voice a low growl.

Apparently he didn't need to be told twice, for almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth he released her from his grip and allowed her body free control once again, watching unconcerned as she whirled around to face him and took in the changes to his appearance. Gone were the pieces of costume that had distinguished him as being the "Turtle Titan," most notably the large cape that had hidden the exterior of his shell from the eyes of others at the convention. All that remained was the cloth of orange around his eyes and waist, where a pair of nunchucks sat carefully on either of his hips. With raised hands that demonstrated how he didn't wish to threaten her any further, the turtle smirked a little.

"I know who you are," he said matter-of-factly. "You might be wearing a different costume and not have your hair all done up, but I've seen you before. You're the Hunter."

Destiny blinked up at him. "And you're a giant turtle. What's your point?"

"Well, you know I-" But then he stopped, looking down at her with a mix of confusion and wariness written across the forest-green colour of his face. "Wait, you know? And you're not freaked out?"

At this, the girl couldn't help but smile a little. "Unfortunately, you're not the strangest thing I've ever seen before."

"Dude…"

A sound at the door alerted Destiny to the presence of others, and she wasted no time in pushing the turtle as far back into the shadows as she could before pressing her own body firmly against his. Her hands held tightly to the muscles in his upper arms, her eyes glancing back for any sign that they might have been spotted…but the men simply continued on their way without a second glance in their direction. After a moment she allowed herself to breathe again, releasing him from her grasp and taking a small step backward to put a little distance between the two of them.

"Look, I wish I had the time to stop and chat with you, but I'm afraid that I have work to do."

As she turned away, she felt a hand quickly press against her shoulder and prevent her from leaving. "If you're following the Purple Dragons, you might want a little bit of help. There's a whole room of them back there, and no way are they just going to let you waltz in there without an invitation."

Well, he was definitely right about that. She had spotted only a handful of them heading into the room back there, but if he had seen more than just those few, Destiny knew she was going to have to be careful about how she went through with this plan. Barging in unannounced was clearly not an option anymore. Dressed as she was, people would surely make the connection of who she was, though she was grateful for the fact that she didn't have to worry about them linking her choice in wardrobe to Leonardo. After all, how many people could know about the giant turtle who roamed about New York City? Or turtles, she supposed, thinking of how she would need to make that a plural term now.

Tilting her head slightly, the brunette looked upward at him. "Do you have a name?"

"Mikey…it's short for Michelangelo."

"Nice name," she smiled softly. "Very…_new age_."

She couldn't resist the little dig. Though she knew that the chances of them not being affiliated with one another were slim, she couldn't ignore the connection that screamed at her through the choice of Renaissance names. Two of the greatest artists of the age, huh? Well, she'd deal with that later.

Removing her gaze from him, Destiny gently pried herself away from his hand and moved to the edge of the little corridor that they had stuffed themselves down, slowly positioning her body until she was able to see around the corner and confirm what she already knew. There was indeed another door at the far end of the room that would certainly lead her to the group that she hoped to infiltrate. If she could avoid any sort of confrontation she would happily do so – the idea of taking on an entire room of hired thugs certainly didn't meet with her approval. But if that was what was going to happen, at least she would be ready for them.

Silent hands reached down to remove her sais from her belt, sliding her fingers over the metal edges and readjusting her grip to ensure that she wouldn't lose them if she were to suddenly be confronted with company. But just as she moved to step around the corner and into the room, the door began to open and she was forced to shuffle back into the shadows to join Michelangelo. He was at her side almost instantly, pressing the back of his shell against the wall as he lifted one hand to lightly touch the tension she now bore in her hands. Without words, she knew it was a silent warning. He wanted her to wait before doing anything.

"Can you believe that guy?" demanded a male voice, coming through the door and a little further into the room. "We got that stupid rock he wanted and he _still_ wasn't happy!"

"Yeah, it's not our fault the Hunter showed up!"

The second voice belonged to Jackson, one of the men who had been present that night during the robbery of the jewellery store. Destiny remembered him as the mousy looking fellow who had been hesitant to obey the orders given to him by his boss, as if he really hadn't wanted to be a part of the heist at all. The first one, however, was a voice that she didn't immediately recognize. It was gruff though, a low voice that seemed to rumble in the belly a little before it reached the surface and was heard by those around the speaker. Voices such as those usually came from people she needed to be concerned about, because in her experience they were almost always bigger than she was. And that meant that they hit harder too.

The first voice continued. "That guy in the trench boat certainly helped though," he said with a dark chuckle. "If he hadn't distracted her we might never have gotten away with it."

"Yeah, too bad you had to shoot him," agreed Jackson.

Her body stiffened in response to his words, and Michelangelo did his best to just keep her calm with the added pressure of his fingers closing around her wrist. The first voice belonged to the other man who had been present that night, the one who had pulled the gun and nearly killed Leo in his efforts to escape. Her teeth were grit tightly together, part of her lip curling back in a vicious snarl.

"Breathe," Mikey reminded her in a hushed tone.

Very slowly, the air began to move about in her lungs once more.

"As long as we don't run into those turtles again," the first man growled, clearly disgusted with the very mention of them. "The only reason they're worse than that damn vigilante is because there's more than one of them. I'd happily have shot all of them if I'd had the chance."

Both men shared a bout of laughter as Destiny continued to stand back in the shadows with Michelangelo, who flexed his fingers against her wrist as he grew bothered by their developing conversation. Evidently she wasn't the only one who was currently battling the urge to run out there and start interrogating the two men, wanting to pump them for further information about this new job that they had been given. Thus far, that was the only piece of information she really wanted but found herself to be lacking…

The sound of a hand clapping against a shoulder rang out in the silence that followed their moment of amusement. "Maybe we'll still get the chance, eh?"

"Yeah! Maybe!"

The first voice cleared his throat a little. "This next job should be a piece of cake. The shipment comes in at eleven and we'll be out of there before they even realize we've come."

"It'd be a lot easier if we didn't have to work with the Foot," Jackson complained, his feet shuffling a little against the floor. "They're just going to get in our way…or maybe they'll set us up to take the fall when the cops show up."

"Better the cops than the Hunter," reminded the first man. "They won't pick us up off the ground from twenty feet away."

With muttered agreement the two men moved further into the room and dangerously close to the doorway through which they had all originally come, forcing both Destiny and Michelangelo to shuffle back into the tiny space of shadow behind them. Again they resumed the position of having her body pressed tightly to his, though this time his one arm wrapped itself around her waist to help bring her as far back as the space would allow until the sound of the closing door reached them and they slowly released from their forced embrace. A few more seconds of silence passed as they waited to see if they would be joined by anyone else, but it seemed that whoever else had headed into the second room would not be leaving in the same manner as Jackson and his companion.

"Dude," Mikey muttered to himself. "This does _not_ look good at all."

But Destiny's mind was already whirling around the information she had just overheard, struggling to piece together the bits that made little sense to her. The Purple Dragons she had heard of, having watched them over the past several months as she tried to bring an end to their crime spree. The Foot, however, was an entirely new thing that she had never heard of before. What was it? A street gang? Some type of machine they planned on using for this heist? And even better, what was it that they were after this time? Though they had highlighted the fact that some shipment was their new target there had been no discussion of a date, a place or even what it was that they planned on robbing.

It left a bitter taste in her mouth. Though she had learned few things by infiltrating the convention today, she still had more questions that needed to be answered before she could proceed any further. More digging was required. More nights of combing the streets endlessly until she was able to get her hands on someone who might talk if the right force was applied.

And boy was she willing to apply that force.

"Wait! Where you going?"

It was Michelangelo's voice that called her back when Destiny realized that she had drawn away from him without even realizing it. Instinct told her to get to the door and get out of the building as quickly as possible before she ran the risk of being discovered, but part of her knew that she couldn't just up and leave without a word to him. _There are two of them_, she reminded herself. _Leo isn't the only one of his kind._ Even the Purple Dragons had referenced the fact that there was more than one turtle…

"I have work to do," she said shortly.

"Yeah, but-"

"No," she said quickly, whirling around to look at him with a frown etched into her face. "There is no 'but' here, Mikey. There is too much at stake here for anyone else to get involved."

Now it was his turn to frown. "Too much at stake?" he asked her. "Do you know what they're planning?"

"No. But that doesn't mean I don't have any sort of idea."

"You can't-"

"I can, and I will," she responded firmly. "I don't need any kind of help with this. It's too dangerous for anyone else to be involved, and I won't have you getting in my way."

Turning on her heel, Destiny quickly deposited her sais back into her belt as she marched toward the door, eager to remove herself from the situation entirely and just get back to her apartment so she could begin planning her next move. She didn't have time to deal with other people, or perhaps in this case creatures, who wanted to butt into her affairs and make a complicated mess of things. Her life was already complicated – she didn't need any further help in that department.

It took no time at all for her to escape from the convention center, slipping her arms into a light jacket that had been left lying in a plastic chair so as to hide her weaponry and appearance from passersby on the street, a hand reaching up to remove the blue fabric of her mask. She tucked it away quickly within one of the pockets of her new jacket, rather thankful to note that the sun had begun to set and remove the brightness of the day from the sky. It meant she wouldn't need to worry about possibly having a headache from the sun when she returned home, as she was prone to have during moments of high anxiety. Just another wonderful thing about being a freak.

When she rounded the second corner, however, she stopped and lifted her head, glancing around her. There were no other people on the side street she had chosen to walk down, and yet she could feel a lingering presence that had been making the skin of her neck prickle ever since she had set foot on the pavement of the street. Destiny sighed softly to herself. She knew the feeling all too well from the many weeks that had preceded her meeting with Leonardo.

"_I know you're there,"_ she thought, her voice carrying the thoughts into the mind of her follower without the slightest move of her lips. _"And you might as well give up now. We're done for the night."_

There was no point in bothering to replace the mask. From where she stood, now motionless on the sidewalk, there was no way for him to really see her face. All he would know is that he had encountered the Hunter, a girl with no further identity than a street name given to her by locals who spoke of how the vigilante "hunted" down the criminals of the city relentlessly. Hell, half of them didn't even know she was a seventeen year old girl. They just assumed there was someone out there who had finally grown tired of being victimized and decided to do something about it. And they weren't far off in that thought.

"_Good night, Michelangelo."_

Exhaling slowly, she continued on her way until she was able to round yet another corner and disappear completely from sight. A soft breeze pushed the orange tail of his mask off to the side as he stared down at the spot where she had stood before her voice rang clearly in his head, giving the turtle pause. There was so much more to this mysterious girl than people realized, for clearly she possessed abilities that were far beyond his understanding. He still didn't know why she was paying attention to the Purple Dragons, but he did know one thing for certain. He'd met the Hunter.

How cool was that?


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's another chapter! I'm slowly bringing things into crazy mode, so be prepared for some more adventure and drama within the next few chapters. This one took me a little while to write because I really wanted to establish the relationship that is beginning between Des and Leo and really examine it from the different angles. Hopefully you guys will see just how different it really is and where it might bring them trouble in the future. Or perhaps you can see how it will work. I don't know, but I'm sure interested to find out what you think. Review when you finish and let me know what you think!**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

She had been yet to adopt her nightly persona, he realized. For the past several minutes she had been standing on the rooftop of the building in her civilian clothing, her arms wrapped tightly around her chest as she held her sweater down against the breeze that brushed along past her and carried her dark locks forward around her eyes. The moon was full and bright, looming down over the city with an eerie clarity that he wasn't familiar with seeing during his nightly excursions in the surface world – and it seemed that Destiny was rather taken with the look of the sky before her. She hadn't moved her gaze since he had arrived some fifteen minutes before.

For almost three days now he had been battling with his desire to return to her apartment and see her again, the strange girl who have saved his life and yet seemed to set herself upon the same level as a mutated turtle who lived his days in the sewers below the city itself. He'd found himself locked in a stalemate, one part of his brain screaming that it was foolish to risk exposing himself to the world again after he had barely escaped with his life the last time. And yet another voice demanded that he return to her, for she had peaked his curiosity and left him unsatisfied with the result of their last meeting even though he had been the one to leave. Something about her was alluring, beckoning for him return again so that he might learn more about how she came to have such incredible powers at her disposal. What had happened? The question nagged away at him day and night, keeping him awake at every ungodly hour imaginable until finally he was forced to abandon his efforts and enter the training dojo.

And so again, he had left the safety of his home beneath the surface in order to approach this girl, one who was little better than a perfect stranger. He knew first-hand what she was capable of if she didn't want him to come anywhere near, and yet he found that he wasn't as concerned with his own well-being as perhaps he should have been. His desire to know more about her and thank her properly for what she had done in order to save his life had only grown alongside his curiosity, which was had brought him back to her rooftop that night.

"_I know you're there."_

Leo jumped, hearing her soft whisper in his ear even though he knew that she was plainly standing at least thirty feet in front of him. She hadn't even turned around, she was still gazing out at the starry sky that hung above the busy city like a statue destined never to move from her place. But she knew that he was there, somehow she had been aware of his presence…and for how long? Was it merely a sense that told her she was being watched, or had one of her abilities alerted her as soon as he set foot on the rooftop? Regardless, the turtle slowly moved from his hiding place and began to approach her with cautious steps until he found himself only a few feet behind her.

"How did you know I was here?" he asked.

With a glance over her shoulder and a small smile of amusement, Destiny laughed softly to see the questioning look in his eye. "I heard you arrive."

He blinked at her. She had heard him arrive? Leonardo took great pride in the fact that his ninjitsu training had allowed him to master the art of stealth, ensuring that the enemy wouldn't know of his arrival until he intended for them to see him. He trained constantly to keep his skills sharp and ready for any moment of the day or night, spending long hours in the dojo even when they were not required of him. In fact, that was the very skill he had employed to make a clean getaway that night and come back to the surface in order to see her again. And still, she had heard him?

"You shouldn't have heard anything," he replied, attempting to ignore the nagging voice in the back of his brain that demanded further practise to prevent the issue from arising again.

Destiny just gave her head a little shake and turned back to look at the moon. "I was hoping it was you anyway. Someone's been watching me over the last couple of weeks, but I can't seem to get a read on them. Don't stress too much about it though," she said nonchalantly. "It's just another one of my freaky tricks."

There was no mistaking the sarcastic tone of which that she used to describe her powers – Leo was sure he would have heard it from the other side of the city if she had spoken the words with the same venom as she just had. It was beyond confusing for him to hear her speak this way though, in utter distain for the special gifts that she seemed capable of handling on the slightest whim. It would be so easy to abuse them, to set out into the world and just do as you pleased without any regard for the rest of the human population. She could have all the money she could ever want, all of the power and influence that she might desire. And yet here she was hiding away from the world as if she were ashamed of herself for the things that made her different. Instead of embracing life the way that most girls her age did she was holed up in an apartment and adopting a different persona to walk the streets at night in search of the very criminals that he sought to stop.

"You're not a freak," he told her firmly, coming to stand at her side and turn his head so that he might try and look her firmly in the eye. "Different, yes – but not a freak."

Her head snapped round to look at him with the most penetrating gaze he had ever felt in his life. The only other person who had ever made him feel so vulnerable with a single look was Master Splinter, the sole person who knew everything about him without the utterance of a single word. Yet it seemed that the depths of her dark eyes read far more than Leo wished. And at the same time they disclosed to him so many intimate details about her own person that he felt almost overwhelmed by the various emotions that he could feel radiate from her eyes.

And then she turned away, walking back toward the fire escape. "You ignore the things you do not wish to see, Leonardo."

It wasn't a question. Leo followed her silently down the metal steps of the ladder until they reached the platform that sat before her living room window, the very same window through which she had carried his unconscious body only days before. Now he stepped through the open frame without her aid and slowly followed until he stood in the middle of the living room, watching the tiny movements of her body. He could see the tension that had entered her shoulders upon his declaration – it continued to linger between them even now. Though she hadn't outright said he was wrong, her words certainly lead to the assumption that she did not believe herself to be as normal as the people who were passing on the street at that very moment.

As he folded his arms over his chest, Leo couldn't help but find himself considering the reason behind every little detail of her movements and why it was that she so quickly brushed herself aside. She was probably still caught off guard by the fact that he knew the truth, he mused. Or at least as much of the truth as she was willing to relay to him at this point. Though she had shared some of the details about her abilities, he still knew nothing about where she had come from and when these powers had first been discovered. They could have been present when she was born or not manifested until several years into her youth. And while a part of him was burning to know these things about her, he couldn't bring himself to poke those holes just yet if he risked losing the small amount of trust he seemed to have gained since the night they met.

She hadn't turned him away. That had to mean something.

"I'm sorry," he said at last, noting that she turned her head a little in his direction again when he spoke. "I didn't mean to upset you, Des."

"I'm fine."

Her words came just a little too quickly for him to believe that she really was alright. He had upset her, there really was no way around the truth of the matter. And now he needed to figure out how he was supposed to set it all right.

Nervously, the turtle chewed on his lip a little bit. "Des-"

"Look, you should know that the Purple Dragons are up to something again," she interrupted, turning sharply to face him again. "I followed a lead to the convention center yesterday and overheard two of them talking about their new orders. They were both at the robbery the other night."

Leo blinked, looking at her with an expression of evident concern. She had been following some kind of lead without his knowledge, putting herself in danger when he wasn't able to be there to keep an eye on her. It was a little annoying to know that things had transpired without him, though a part of him understood the need there was to follow a lead in the hopes of discovering some new information. And it seemed that her work had paid off. Or perhaps not, he thought as he watched her brow wrinkle a little further. Something was bothering her – he could almost feel the frustration radiate off of her.

"You're sure?" he asked.

The brunette nodded. "I still don't know who they're working for, but I know that there's a shipment of something coming in at eleven. That's their target."

Without her having said another word, he already knew what she was thinking from the scowl that overtook her features. Knowing that they planned on getting some kind of shipment at eleven o'clock didn't really help to narrow down the search for the Purple Dragons. Sure, they could always sit down by the docks and wait for someone to arrive, but the docks were vast and they didn't even know when this shipment was supposed to be arriving. No doubt she had been spending quite a bit of time stalking anyone who came and went from the docks in the darkness since coming to possess this information, but how much longer could she put herself through all of that before her body decided to rebel? She wasn't looking quite as healthy as she had when the two had first met.

And she had been sporting a rather nasty wound because of him on that occasion.

Leo paused for a moment, wondering if perhaps he should even bother to ask her. "You've been down there every night, haven't you?" he began slowly, watching for any sign that she might grow frustrated and brush his questions aside. "And there's been nothing."

He could see the tension in her jaw. "No, there's been nothing so far."

"All we can do then is keep watch," offered the turtle, attempting some soft words that might allay her discomfort for the time being. "Until they are ready to move, there is very little that we can actually do, especially since we don't know what they are after or what their ultimate goal is."

"I've been watching for two days now," she snapped lightly. "And there's been nothing!" Then as she realized the tone she had taken with him, Destiny's shoulders slumped a little and sighed softly. "I'm sorry, Leo. I don't mean to be so hostile toward you."

Leo shook his head a little in response. "I know you're frustrated. I understand," he told her firmly as he nodded toward the couch and waited until she had seated herself on the edge before he continued. "The Purple Dragons are only the hired muscle for someone else who doesn't want to get their hands dirty. But we'll figure it all out, I know we will."

Still, it seemed that something continued to trouble the brunette. Despite his lack of experience in dealing with humans, least of all with their female counterparts, Leo could see that she was bothered by something she wasn't sharing with him. A frown crept into his face as he knelt down before her, a move that seemed to instantly catch her attention and cause those dark pools to jump up to his face in surprise. There was a genuine concern that she could feel radiating off of his body, a feeling that was being forced in her direction and refused to be silenced even though he had not spoken his worries aloud. And while a part of her wanted to put a little distance between herself and the mutant turtle who knelt before her in her living room she couldn't bring herself to move away, even as he slowly reached forward and placed a green hand lightly upon her knee.

"We _will_ figure this out," he repeated with a conviction she wished she could share. "There are ways that we can go about looking into this without watching the docks every night in the hopes of catching them red-handed."

For a moment, they just stared at one another in a silence that almost felt comfortable – like there were no other words that truly needed to be spoken for them to feel at ease or come to an understanding. In sensing that, Destiny couldn't help but smile softly and relax as she felt the steady gave of Leonardo upon her. Something about him was so genuine, so real…unlike most of the people that she encountered on a daily basis. And though it still bothered her a little to think that there was another of his kind running around the city that he hadn't even told her about, she knew that this was not the time to bring up that little tidbit of information. When he was ready, he would share the fact that Michelangelo existed with her.

Maybe.

"I wish I had your confidence, Leo," she murmured, letting her own hand come to rest on his with a reassuring pat. "They've been one step ahead of me for so long, and I thought I had finally caught a break! I was so sure that I was finally going to be able to take down their organization and go for the big boss."

"Give it time," he said, squeezing her knee a little. "I don't like the idea that these guys are out there anymore than you do but we can't rush this. If we spook them then they'll go underground and we might never get them."

Destiny nodded in agreement. "We can't risk that. The city is already a dangerous place with them running around as they are, I can only imagine how much worse things would get if they were to disappear."

Then the light began to shine again in her eyes as they widened a little bit in realization, causing the girl to bolt to her feet and wander over toward the window again. Leo was a little startled and watched just in case he was expected to follow, but she stopped just short of actually leaving and leaned instead against the window sill.

"Des?"

"I might know someone who can help us," she breathed, turning to look at him with a smirk on her lips. "A contact, of sorts."

Blinking, Leo looked at her with an air of slight confusion. "As Destiny…or as the Hunter?"

"The Hunter," she acknowledged, sure that he wasn't super keen on the idea of someone else having contact with the vigilante that he had done his best to stop before being shot. "I've only called him twice before, but they were for things that weren't nearly as involved as this."

Still he looked a little skeptical. And in seeing this, Destiny sighed and lifted her hands in front of her. "Look, you might not like it but it might be the only thing we have that can help. Unless of course, you want to spend every night wandering around the docks until we find something."

She was driven, he would certainly give her that. But he didn't understand the obsession she seemed to have with getting the Purple Dragons for their crime. It was almost as if there was a hidden vendetta against them that she harboured deep within her soul, so deep down in fact that he didn't think she would be able to focus on anything else until the day that she finally succeeded. Or died, he reminded himself with a small shiver. Even with all of the gifts that he knew her to possess there was always a sense that she was not able to sit idly by and just wait for things to happen.

Patience was clearly not one of her virtues.

"If you're sure," he began slowly.

Again, the brunette hurried to nod. "I am," she said firmly. "If there is anyone who might be able to give me an idea of when this heist will go down, it's my contact."

Leo wasn't entirely convinced, she could see that plainly on his face as he continued to frown behind the blue material of his mask and scrutinize her with his dark brown eyes. If there were anything else she could think to say that might put him at ease, Destiny might have attempted to allay his fears. But there really wasn't anything else to say. Until they had more information and she was able to decide how best to approach the situation they were stuck in a stalemate.

Finally, he sighed lightly and gave his head a shake. "Just…promise me you won't do anything without talking to me, okay?"

"Now don't go feeling responsible for me," she said, raising a brow in his direction. "I saved you…not the other way around, but you don't owe me anything, Leonardo."

He pursed his lips tightly together. She was right, he had to acknowledge that. She had been the one to save him that night when the bullet intended for her had lodged itself dangerously close to his heart. And while he had no mark to remind him of his close encounter there was nothing he could do to shake the memory that continued to plague him every night as he tried to regain his energies in sleep. It was too scary to think that the only reason he was still breathing was because a woman like Destiny had the capability to heal such a dangerous wound. But that reminded him of something else…

"How are you healing?"

The question seemed to catch Destiny off-guard as she opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. "I…it's getting there. Not a big deal," she told him, trying her best to shrug it off.

"Let me see it."

"Leo, really-"

"I'm not asking, Destiny."

His firm tone of voice startled her a little as she felt her arms instinctively wrap around her sides, careful not to grip too tightly to the bandage that still sat against her skin. Her brown orbs watched as he slowly approached her once again, reaching out to grasp her human hands in his three-fingered ones and lightly pry them away from her torso. For a moment their eyes were firmly locked on one another until Leo dropped his gaze instead to the injury that he knew was hidden away beneath the material of her sweater, but Destiny continued to stare at him nervously as he slowly pushed the fabric up and away from her side, exposing her naked skin to his eyes. And as he peeled back the gauze that she had taped in place and began to trace the wound with his fingers she couldn't help but shiver just a little at the lightness of his touch.

"It doesn't look too bad," he muttered to himself. "It might scar though."

She could hear the bitterness in his tone. "I don't mind," came her breathy reply. "It's not like too many people would notice it anyway."

He turned his gaze up at her once more. "_I'll_ notice."

"You won't have to see it."

Her movements were not sharp as she dropped a hand down to her side and pressed the bandage against her skin once more, dropping the side of her sweater so that his eyes could no longer see the outline of the gauze or the scar that lurked beneath. But his mind could still see the broken tissue that formed her wound, knowing where it was although she had covered it up once more. It was something he knew he would see for a while, until something else took over the forefront of his mind and forced his attentions elsewhere.

All at once, he felt the softness and warmth of her hand as she reached through the distance that lay between them and touched the muscle of his bicep with a gentleness he had never really known before. "It's not your fault," she said, repeating the words that she had already spoken to him several times over. "I made a choice. You would have died…and even though I was angry I knew that I couldn't let you die. It just….it wasn't right."

In the weeks leading up to their encounter at the jewellery store, Destiny had been followed by a presence who had at first refused to appear before her. And when they finally did, it had not been a warm reception. The stranger in the trench coat had made it perfectly clear that he didn't like seeing the Hunter roaming around on the streets at night in search of the villains who continued to plague New York City. She was acting like a vigilante, he had said, and there was no place for such actions while he was around to stop it…and he would put a stop to it, he had assured her. He would see to it that the Hunter was retired before any innocent lives were put at risk. And though an innocent life had indeed been put at risk, the end result was rather different from what Leonardo had originally intended when he had begun to follow the young woman around in the shadows of the night.

Very carefully so as not to startle her, Leo lifted an arm across his body and allowed the flesh of his hand to press against her own, holding it in place atop his bicep so that she couldn't easily pull away from him. And for a moment he just stood there, allowing himself to register the touch of a human being who regarded him without any sign of terror in her eyes. Their paths had crossed in a moment of circumstance and instead of being absolutely horrified by the differences that lay between them, she seemed to have accepted him. After all, she hadn't rejected the thought that they might see one another again after she had gone so far as to save his life.

"You really aren't afraid of me," he said, a hint of wonder in his tone as he continued to look at her with a penetrating stare.

The girl simply smiled. "You're not afraid of me, are you?"

"No."

"Then why should I be afraid of you?" Destiny asked him, cocking her head to the side a little as if this new angle might better reveal something about him to her. "We look different, sure. But deep down we both just want to be accepted for who and what we are, don't we?"

Leo blinked at her in surprise. That was essentially all that he wanted out of his life, a chance to be accepted for being who he was, though he had been warned for many of those years already that the human world was not yet ready to acknowledge his existence. Yet here, in the safety of her own home, was a human who had allowed herself to be open minded about standing close to a life-sized turtle with the capability of speech, among other things. Shell, she was reaching out right now to touch him and showed no signs of discomfort when he had laid his own hand atop her own. And she had smiled, he thought to himself, she was still smiling. There was absolutely nothing in her body at that moment to make him believe that Destiny harboured any sort of fear or anger or anything negative toward him for the trouble that he had helped to cause that night outside the jewellery store.

As he continued to watch her, her smile broadened a little more. "You accepted me just as I accepted you," she said, giving his arm a little bit of a squeeze. "It's a two way street, Leonardo. Now that you've found me…you're going to be stuck with me."

The difference between Destiny and the vigilante that he had first pursued was enough to make his head spin. Here before him was a young woman with her whole life ahead of her, seemingly happy just to stand there with him for a moment…and then when the sun set over the city she transformed into a creature of the night, determined to hunt down some of the most dangerous criminals that the city was forced to combat on a daily basis. Relentlessly she combed through the streets in search of them for reasons he still did not understand, her entire personality seeming to shift as if they were two completely different people who were forced to cohabitate in the same body.

But it was in her conviction of choosing not to leave him be that struck Leo as being the most truthful thing that she had ever said to him in the short time that they had come to know one another. In so few words she had conveyed everything he could possibly have hoped to hear. She wasn't going to walk away as if they had never met, nor would she pretend that he was anything other than what he was. He could come to her now when he needed to escape from the struggles of his own life and just be himself without judgement – he had someone on whom he could rely.

A secret friend.

The corners of his lips perked a little at the thought of having someone like her in his life as he released her hand and felt it slip away, leaving behind a much cooler sensation against his skin. "I should go," he said softly, glancing toward the window through which he had initially come.

"You'll be back."

Before he could stop himself the turtle stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her body close to his own for a brief moment. He didn't know what had possessed him to react so emotionally to this new sensation of having a friend, but she didn't seem to mind as she slipped her own arms around his chest and gave him a small squeeze. And just as quickly as he had grabbed her, he released her and made a beeline for the window, vanishing before she even had the chance to say a word. With slow steps Destiny walked over to the window and placed her hands upon the ledge, leaning out to take a look around just in case he had chosen to linger on the fire escape. But there was nothing.

She smiled, gently closing the window. _"Good night, my friend."_


	6. Chapter 6

**I know it's only been a few days since I last posted, but I finished this chapter and I just couldn't wait. I'm currently working on another one as we speak which I hope to have finished within the next week or so, and I'm already at a good planning point for what will follow beyond that. What does that mean? That means that the next story will also be worked on to follow this one! Stay tuned for the title, which I will reveal within the next few chapters! Leave a review once you've read it and let me know what you think!  
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><p><span><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

As she turned away from the window the smile fell away from her face and a more serious expression took its place. Quick steps carried her across the living room and back to the kitchen within seconds as she moved around the island and paused before a drawer at the very end of the counter top. She pulled it open, retrieving the single item from inside before she closed the drawer again and leaned heavily against the counter, pressing the button that would bring the tiny piece of technology to life.

Only twice before had this cell phone been activated and used to communicate with someone, but it had always been the same person. Her contact was someone who she had located almost by accident when searching for someone to help her with computer troubles, and since that time she had kept the number in the back of her mind in case she ever needed him for anything else. As it happened, there had been an instance where she had telephoned him as the Hunter, and though he had been rather surprised to hear that the vigilante was calling him for help he had been able to assist with what she had needed. It had been risky, involving an outsider like that. Once he realized who he was talking to he could have easily contacted police and helped them lay some sort of trap in order to prevent her from venturing out every night, but he hadn't.

He'd just given her the information and then hung up.

When finally the phone blinked into life she pushed a couple of buttons and brought it up to her ear, tapping a finger impatiently against the back as she waited for her contact to pick up on the other end. Once…twice…three times it rang. But on that third ring she could hear the click on the other end that signaled his entrance into conversation, a small scuffle as he placed what she assumed was an earpiece into place so that he could talk to her without interruption from anyone else.

"You've reached-"

"It's me," she interrupted, dropping her voice to the darker tone that she took on as the Hunter. "I need your help with something."

"You have my full attention."

She couldn't help but smile a little at that. In the few times that they had spoken before, she had known that he was giving her exactly that; his full attention. Despite any muffled noises that she could sometimes hear in the background on his end of the line he was always ready to provide the answers that she sought out. And he never called her by name either, just in case there was someone close by who might hear his conversation and then get their hands on the information that he was sharing with her. The last thing that she needed was to deal with someone who found out about her contact. Both of their lives might be in danger then.

"Shipments," she said, picking her body off of the counter and beginning to pace along the tile floor of the kitchen. "Large ones that might be arriving within the next two weeks or so. Anything of large monetary value that would be going to a single location."

"That's a pretty broad thing for me to look into," he commented.

But she could hear the sound of his fingers clicking on the keys lightly filter into their conversation, filling the otherwise motionless silence that started to sit between them. She didn't know what it was that he did to work his magic, bypassing all of the security systems and encryptions that protected buyer information from the public eye, but he did it. There was nothing that was beyond his reach it seemed. And while she knew that shipping information was almost nothing compared to the things that he had looked into for her before, she could still be a little amazed at just how much he was able to dig up at her request.

"Anything of particular interest?"

"What have you got?"

It was almost like she could hear the smirk on the other side of the phone line. "There's a lot of stuff coming in over the weekend, but there's only two that I think might be of interest to you," he began, fingers moving quickly against the keyboard again. "Both shipments come in at midnight on Friday. One is a museum purchase of Ancient Greek artifacts, the other is a large chemical shipment for a pharmaceutical company in the north end of the city."

Destiny frowned a little and resumed her pacing back and forth against the tiles of the kitchen floor. "Is there a name for this company?"

"Powers Incorporated."

A shock ran through her spine as the name rolled off of his tongue, bringing her pacing to a halt almost immediately. The hand holding the phone tightened into a dangerous vice-like grip and began to shake, eyes staring off into space as her mind struggled to recover from the unexpected information it was attempting to process. She never thought she would hear that name again, not in the million years. It had been so long since…she didn't want to deal with the memories just now. She didn't think she could.

The brunette gave her head a shake. "You're sure?"

"That's what the computer says," came his voice, a little more questioning than before. "You alright?"

"Of course," she said a little too quickly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

A moment of silence fell between them. "Look, we might not know much about each other," he began firmly. "But I know enough that I can tell when someone isn't dealing with something."

Her eyes narrowed a little in annoyance that she allowed herself to be so easily read by a stranger. "You said the shipments come in Friday?"

He knew that she was changing the subject. "Yeah."

"That's only three days from now," she murmured to herself, fingers flexing around the phone while her teeth bit gently into her lower lip. "They'll be ready to move as soon as the boat docks and unloads their cargo."

There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that it was the chemicals they were after now, prepared to either deliver them to the company or thieve them for someone else who would use them for more sinister things. Granted, she couldn't think of anything worse than letting Powers Incorporated get their hands on them. With all of the pain she knew had been experienced at their hands, the last thing she wanted was for them to receive their chemicals unless she knew exactly what they were for. Nobody else would ever have to suffer like that, she had sworn that when she had first put the domino mask on her face and decided to guard the streets of New York City by night. The Purple Dragons weren't her real target…but they had certainly served a purpose in helping to relieve her stress.

"They?"

His voice brought her out of her thoughts. "There's a group of thugs that have been hired to retrieve the shipment," she vaguely explained. "People who are up to no good. I want to know who they're employer is and what he wants with the chemical shipment."

"You're sure it's the chemicals?"

Destiny scoffed a little. "Trust me, it's the chemicals they're after."

"You're not seriously thinking of interrupting that on your own, are you?" he demanded.

But the girl just shrugged to herself. "It's what I do," she reminded him nonchalantly. "Don't worry about it. Thanks for your help, Don."

She could hear him sigh on the other end. "Just be careful, alright? There are some people who think that the Hunter works for the good of others aside from herself. I'd hate to hear that they unmasked your dead body on the docks."

"Thanks for your concern," she said, a smile spreading across her lips. "I'll give you a call and let you know how it goes, alright? I might need your help again."

"I'll be here."

Without saying goodbye, Destiny pulled the phone away from her ear and quickly disconnected the call, turning it off again in the process. Now she had the information that she needed, with nothing more to do than wait until Friday night when she could set out for the docks and hopefully discover the mysterious employer that had hired the Purple Dragons as their brute squad. She knew she would need to tell Leo eventually. Despite her reluctance to involve him in her business, she was fairly certain that another set of eyes would be a benefit to her…not to mention another pair of hands if they were to find themselves in a defensive situation. After all, why wear a pair of katana on the back of your shell if you didn't know how to use them?

Crossing back to the drawer she placed the phone inside and quickly shut it again, folding her arms tightly across her chest as she wandered back toward the hallway and into her bedroom. Exhaustion was beginning to creep into her body, she could feel it making her eyelids heavier and heavier as the minutes passed. She nudged the door with her hip as she passed through and didn't bother to wait for the audible click that would tell her it had closed before she flopped down on the bed and curled up into a ball, her head on her pillow.

Three days, she thought to herself. Three more days and then perhaps she could find something new, something that might better explain the past and why it had unfolded as it did. After all those years of searching and wondering she might at last have the answers that she so desperately sought. And then maybe, just maybe, she would finally seek revenge.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey all! Sorry this update took me so long but school took control of my life again and time got away from me. So leave me a little review and let me know what you think of this chapter! There will be more coming your way, I promise!  
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><p><span><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>

The following evening, her anxiety got the better of her. She had done her best to carry on as if it were any other day; cooking, cleaning, sorting laundry…anything that might help to take her mind off of the constant worrying and waiting that had invaded her body and refused to be replaced by any other emotion or preoccupation. She knew that there was absolutely nothing she could do until midnight on Friday when the shipment came into port, and even then there was no way for her to be completely sure that the chemicals were what the Purple Dragons had been hired to take. Maybe it _was_ the Greek artifacts that they were after. The black market was sure to be filled with people who would pay to have such priceless pieces of history in their possession, even if they were intended for someone else entirely. But her gut told her that it wasn't the artifacts that they were after and she had to stick with her gut feeling before she lost her mind entirely from thinking about it.

But by the time the sun began to set over the city, Destiny had had enough. Throwing down clothing that she had been holding in her hands, the brunette stormed out of her bedroom and down the hallway, leaving her apartment behind with a firm slam of the door before she exited the building entirely and began to walk down the street. Her arms folded themselves tightly over her chest as she walked, as if to better contain her frustration so that she might not lash out the way she wanted to.

There were too many people around – too many witnesses.

She continued to grind her teeth together in frustration as her footsteps carried her into Central Park, a sometimes dangerous place for anyone to be when the night fell and the creeps of the city decided to come out and play. Yet her mind was so preoccupied with her jittery nerves about the coming Friday night that she didn't take any real notice of where she was standing or who might be around her. Deeper and deeper she went into the green, taking herself further away from the busy streets and the crowds of people who moved back and forth on the sidewalk.

_Damn_, she thought, her pace picking up just a little more into a light jog as she moved along the pathway. There was that feeling again. For the last several weeks she had been feeling like she was being watched from the shadows, as if someone were lurking there without the intention of showing their face. At first she had thought that it was just the man in the trench coat who had been stalking her nightly activities, but now that she had met Leo she knew he was not the one she could sense. No, there was another presence in the park that night, one who had figured out how to remain hidden from her eyes. Even with all of the powers that she knew herself to possess she couldn't get a proper read on their location…which meant that she couldn't slam up them telekinetically against a tree and demand to know why they were following her either.

A soft sigh passed her lips as her footsteps finally came to a halt and her shoulder came into contact with the trunk of a nearby tree. She knew that she needed to be patient – there was too much at stake to risk losing her self-control now. After years of searching for answers and craving revenge for the wrongs that had been done to her, Destiny was finally closing in on who was responsible for everything negative that had happened in her life. At last, everything would make sense.

"Help! Somebody please!"

Her eyes flashed upward as the distressed cry rang out in the silence of the park, the voice of a young woman who was clearly in trouble. It sounded like it was coming from somewhere ahead of her, closer to the water fountain that she knew sat close to the heart of the park itself. Dealing with her invisible stalker would have to wait. There was trouble that required her attention.

Teeth grit together in frustration as she realized that she had failed to bring a domino mask with her, something she generally carried in her pocket for emergencies such as this. But in her haste to get out of the building and distract herself from her frustrations, she had overlooked the one rule she had always made to herself when leaving the apartment. But there was no time for her to worry about it now, not when the sound of someone in need had reached her ears and demanded her attention. The woman had sounded horribly frightened when she had called out, something that quickly gripped Destiny by the heart as she drew nearer and nearer to the screams that continued to penetrate the air around her. And as she drew into the place where the different paths of the park met up, Destiny's heart gave a rather violent thud in her chest.

_Purple Dragons._

The woman cowered near the edge of the water fountain that decorated the center of the area, trying to keep a distance between herself and the looming form of the seven or eight Purple Dragons who hungrily stalked closer to her. She could hear them chuckle as the woman continued to scream, shouting out in the hopes that someone might hear and come to her rescue before these men laid a hand on her. Closer and closer they crept while their leader stood chuckling in the back, his beefy arms folded over his chest as he looked on in amusement.

"Nobody is coming," he sneered at the woman who continued to cry out. "Nobody is going to save you."

"If you're smart, you'll walk away from her now."

Hun turned sharply in her direction as the laughter died, eyes narrowed and a snarl of disgust appearing on his lips as he looked at the smaller form of the girl who dared to address him so directly. His eyes locked on her small frame for only a moment before the corner of his lip curled upward in a smirk of amusement, the rumble of laughter beginning to sound in his massive chest. Clearly he was not nearly as concerned with her presence as he had initially been when she had spoken, because he now regarded her with a look that was reminiscent of the way that he had once looked upon the Hunter…

Oh boy, was he in for a surprise if he didn't back down.

"I'm not going to tell you again."

The laughter slowly died down as he turned himself fully to face her, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. "You're in the wrong place, _little girl_," he sneered down with a vicious grin.

In response, Destiny lifted a brow and squared her stance up so that she faced her larger opponent head on. "Maybe I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be."

Her persistence in the matter was clearly beginning to wear on his patience, as the smile fell away from his face and the sneer returned to his pudgy features. The ones who loomed closest to the woman were now turning their heads away to glance back at the scene that lay behind them, curious to know how their leader was going to handle this new situation. And with that momentary distraction the poor woman who had nearly been victimized bolted to her feet and shot down the nearest path that would take her away from the would-be attackers and closer to people who might come to her aid if she screamed loudly enough. A few of the Purple Dragons shifted a little when they heard her scurry away, but Hun shook his head, throwing out an arm to stop any further movement from the men who might have pursued her.

"Let her go," he rumbled, eyes fixed on his new target. "That one bores me."

With all eyes now on her, Destiny cast her glance from side to side to watch as they slowly began to circle her, trapping her within the middle of their larger frames. None of them would dare to attack until Hun gave the order. She would have only a few moments now to plan how she was going to get herself out of this mess now that the other woman had been able to break free, but thus far she was having no thought of how to get away without a fight breaking out. Even with the considerable powers that she had on her side there were still about nine or ten of them to combat. The odds were certainly not in her favour right now.

The Purple Dragons seemed to sense this as well, as they loomed a little closer and tightened ranks around her with hungry glares in their eye and wicked smiles upon their lips. Their intentions were more than clear, which made her skin want to crawl in disgust. But she stood her ground and looked around almost casually, refusing to let her hesitation show in her face lest they see it as a moment of weakness and use it against her before she was ready to defend herself. The clock was slowly winding down to when she would be forced to act, and she could only hope that she was able to react before they got the jump on her.

Chuckling to him, Hun crossed his massive arms over his chest and looked down upon her with a triumphant smirk that already told of the victory he saw in his future. "You should have left when you had the chance," he scolded in a mocking tone, clearly amused with this new situation. "Now I'm afraid you're going to wish you hadn't been walking around by yourself."

Despite herself, Destiny raised a brow in his direction. "Do I look worried?"

"No, but you should be."

As if on cue one of the men who stood around her leapt forward with the intention of grabbing onto her arm, but he missed entirely when Destiny pivoted on her foot and stepped out of his reach, flying into a fellow Dragon on the opposite side of the circle with a loud crunch. From behind she could hear a second man make the attempt to immobilize her and again repeated the action to the left, tripping him up so that he landed face first on the pavement beneath her feet. With a coy smile toward their leader, the young woman placed both hands on her waist and shifted her weight until it sat entirely on the one side of her body, giving her a much more feminine look than before.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was that the best you can do?"

The fury in his eyes was unmistakable. Taunting him was perhaps not the best move that she could have made but it was buying Destiny the time that she needed to formulate a plan. She had no weapons, no real way of defending herself without exposing her powers to all of the men who currently stood around her. Her original intention of going for a walk to clear her head had turned into the greatest debacle she had encountered since taking up the mask of the vigilante because it her life was now at greater risk than ever before. Exposing powers meant exposing her face, and exposing her face meant that anyone who might have a vendetta against the Hunter would have a much easier time tracking her down. Were it only herself she needed to worry about than perhaps it might not have been such a huge consideration, but there was also Leo and his brother to think about. She didn't want to think of what people might do with the information that there were life sized turtles walking around New York City.

But it looked like time had run out.

With a snap of his fingers Hun had the entire company of Purple Dragons launching their own personal assault on the intruder who had ruined their previous fun. To try and avoid any sort of physical contact with them Destiny crouched as low as she could managed and pushed off hard from the ground, soaring above their heads until she landed safely on the other side of their circle.

One leg instantly stretched out to sweep one of the men off balance and bring him down to her level, but the quick movements she had earlier displayed now held no surprise for her attackers and a few of them were able to turn around without getting too tangled in their friends. The first one to lay a hand on her was quickly met with the heel of her palm against his nose, which sent him backwards as he howled in pain and cupped his hands around his face to try and stop the flow of blood that appeared almost instantly.

One down.

Destiny pushed herself to her feet and ran across the pavement, leading the men in a chase that would end at the very edge of the water fountain where they had cornered the other woman earlier. With a sharp twist of her foot she brought her heel against the jaw one the closest Dragon and let him fall straight into another until three had been knocked over completely. Another jump and she was leap frogging over the head of yet another who launched himself forward. The splash behind her was evidence enough of his rather embarrassing defeat. Her right hand balled into a fist and thrust out to connect with one man's sternum and her left knee rose to connect with another's stomach. For the moment, it looked like she might actually win.

But as she withdrew her fist she felt the sudden pressure of a hand wrap itself around her wrist and hold her tight. Hun had somehow managed to sneak around her, taking hold of her in his beefy hand for only a moment before he reached back and threw her across the clearing of the park. It was only when her back made contact with a tree that Destiny felt herself come to a stop, now dazed from the impact and unable to fight back when two of his men finally gathered their wits and held her tightly between the two of them, forcing her to her feet. In a matter of seconds she knew it would be over. She'd have no choice but to force her body to focus long enough to push them all off of her and hope that she could escape in her disorientated state.

Then her secret would be out.

"You don't look so well."

Her head flew off to the side as Hun struck her face with the back of his hand, causing the girl to grit her teeth against the groan that threatened to sound in her moment of pain. But damn did it sting, and now her neck hurt too from the whiplash effect that she had experienced as well. Then came the feeling of his fist plunging itself into her stomach, and Destiny couldn't keep back the cry that started in her throat as she once again hit the trunk of the tree with her spine. She crumpled to the ground, coughing and wheezing as she struggled to take the air into her lungs. Everything was fuzzy, so much so that she dared not use her powers in case they flew completely off target and injured someone else who happened to be nearby in the process.

And then she felt his cold fingers close around her throat as he dragged her to a standing position, ignoring the struggle that she tried to put up as she kicked her legs to try and come back into contact with the ground. Her hands instantly flew to upward to try and pry his sausage-like fingers away from the tender skin of her throat. And when she tried to pull him away, the pressure only grew until she was once more gasping for the air that failed to make it into her lungs.

"Now you're going to regret that you meddled in this tonight," he hissed at her, bringing his face closer to her own as he pinned her roughly against the tree once more.

There was no response from the girl, she didn't have the energy or the air to say anything witty in her defense. But the answer came from somewhere above as a roar reached her ears and scattered the leaves from within the tree. In his surprise Hun released his hold on Destiny's throat until she once again lay sprawled on the ground, heaving to try and regain some sense of balance that might tell her what had happened to make Hun let her go so quickly. And while her eyes could not see what was happening, her ears could hear the thumps of a fight and the occasional clash of metal against metal.

She didn't know how long the fight lasted, but soon there were voices calling out in retreat and footsteps that began to fade into the distance. All at once the silence began to settle around her until there was only one sound to echo in the distance that moved toward her with more speed and stealth than any of the Purple Dragons could possess. They gathered her slowly into their arms until she was cradled against their chest, holding her a little tighter when she tried to struggle in protest.

"It's okay kid, I got ya."

And then everything went dark.


End file.
